Barracuda flags 2026 as the year of AI-driven cyber threats and human-led resilience

As the year closes, Barracuda’s experts have outlined key trends that will define cybersecurity in 2026, offering insights into how enterprises in India can prepare for a future where intelligent automation, governance and human expertise work hand in hand.

Key perspectives from Barracuda’s experts include:

• With hyper-personalised phishing and social engineering, we are going to see highly convincing, context aware phishing emails that are way beyond the capability of role-based defences and could circumvent behavioural-based defences as well.
• Multi-layered ransomware and extortion attacks will become a new normal, as attackers will craft tailored ransomware and take multiple swipes at compromised systems and organisational data.
• AI-driven SOCs, ‘co-pilot’ AI models and automated playbooks will compress response time, but they won’t replace human judgement. Managing AI itself will require new governance and oversight skills and structures. Automation may take a front seat, but in the short term the dependency ...